1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wild game calls, and more particularly to modular game call systems with multiple sound-producing regions and/or multiple vibrating reeds or membranes for imitating natural sounds of game animals.
2. Related Art
In the pursuit of wild game, such as elk, turkey, or coyote, for example, it is highly advantageous to use a call to simulate the various sounds emitted by the animal. This way, the animal may be enticed to come to the hunter. This is particularly so when hunting with a bow or camera and stalking game for short range contact. As elk and other large game animals make a wide array of sounds or calls, it is important that the simulation not only be a true one, but that the hunter be able to render several different calls. Membrane-reed type calls are well known and capable of producing reasonably good sounds. Much effort has been made to make membrane-reed calls that are easy to use, however, many of the resulting calls produce inferior quality sounds. Therefore, in spite of the wide variety of calls that have been developed, there is still a need for improved game calls that produce realistic sounds and that offer the user the flexibility to creatively vary the sounds produced.
Two of the most popular types of prior art call using reeds have mouthpieces with a single reed and a single sound-producing region. A first type places the plane of the reed generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece, and a second type places the plane of the reed generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece. Examples of game calls of interest include Laubach (U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,154), Ady (U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,530), Morgan (U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,133), Wilt (U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,221), Piper (U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,283), Kirby (U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,145), Meline (U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,648), and Primos (U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,725).
The proliferation of game calls of varying effectiveness has had unforeseen and unintended consequences. For example, the increased use of game calls that do not closely approximate the actual sounds that animals produce has caused game animals to become wary of calls and increasingly able to discriminate between real and artificial calls. This has led to the need for calls better able to reproduce authentic sounding calls. Thus, despite past efforts, there is need for more accurate game calls that are also readily mastered by novice users.